Making decisions as a family, when a work of art reveals governance challenges

The portrait room

Dusk falls over an Italian villa on the edge of a lake. The house has belonged to the family since the post-war years. In the library, portraits of the founders overlook a long oak table worn smooth by decades of family councils. On the agenda: the potential sale of a Lucio Fontana painting to fund the digital transformation of the family business. For the elders, the canvas – with its vivid colors and sharply incised cuts – embodies the visionary intuition of their grandmother, the family’s first art collector. For the younger members, it primarily represents a significant asset, worth several million euros, lying dormant in a rarely used room.

The discussion intensifies. No one disputes the painting’s significance. The same words recur – transmission, responsibility, future – yet each generation imbues them with different meanings. “What a family owns goes far beyond balance sheets: it includes values, reputation, works of art and know-how. This complex form of capital cannot be managed on instinct alone”, explains Petra Besson Fencikova, Head of ESG¹ Investments at Societe Generale Private Banking. “The families we support now operate in international, multi-generational environments where interests and visions do not always align naturally.” At such pivotal moments, a governance framework can become essential.

The collection and the factory

The family owns a specialist industrial company employing several hundred people. It is preparing to invest in a large-scale industrial digitalization project – a prerequisite for its future competitiveness. At the same time, it holds a substantial post-war art collection amassed over nearly forty years alongside the company’s growth. Never conceived as a structured wealth asset, the collection now generates rising costs: insurance, preservation, restoration.

Members of the intermediary generation – in their thirties and forties, often involved in day-to-day operations or exposed to international environments – argue for disciplined capital allocation and the need to invest without excessive recourse to debt. The elders, majority shareholders, support the digital transformation but refuse to see it come at the expense of the family’s history. No clear governance framework defines what is untouchable, what could be mobilized or according to which criteria.

The turning point: putting words before decisions

On the initiative of a member of the intermediary generation, the family turns to its private bank to engage in a structured process. “Our role is to create a space where everyone can express themselves, through bespoke family workshops designed to move from emotion to process”, explains Elisa Thollet, Wealth Planning Engineer at Societe Generale Private Banking.

An art and family wealth charter is drawn up and incorporated within a broader governance framework aligned with the family’s objectives:
- it establishes a shared vision and defines principles governing asset allocation and liquidity;
- it structures the management of the art collection (museum loans, sale rules, enhanced protection for identity-defining works);
- it clarifies roles and decision-making bodies (a Family Council distinct from the Board of Directors, a committee involving the younger generation);
- it also includes a transgenerational education program combining finance, art and governance.

Returning to the painting

When the family revisits the discussion, the framework has changed. The Fontana work is now classified as an identity-defining piece: its sale would require a double majority – both generational and capital-based. By contrast, the Art Policy explicitly authorizes the targeted sale of non-identity works within a predefined envelope, strictly earmarked for structuring projects (innovation, transition, transmission).

Two sales are thus approved, without compromising the artistic coherence of the collection. The proceeds help finance a pilot digital factory without undermining shareholder stability. The management of the collection becomes professionalized. For a four-year period, one family member is entrusted with a specific role: acting as guardian of the collection’s unity. They ensure its coherence, embody its vision and work to enhance its visibility. Gradually, this mission positions the family among leading collectors, paving the way for institutional recognition and regular requests for exhibition loans. The business moves forward. The family acts in concert. The Fontana remains.

Tangible outcomes

- Cohesion: informal disagreements give way to structured votes. Decisions become collective and aligned with shared values.
- Transmission: the younger generation is fully involved in governance.
- Resilience: the family gains a stable framework to navigate market cycles, succession issues or acquisition offers.

“Governing wealth means embracing its complexity – that of an inheritance both tangible and intangible, made up of assets, stories, values and bonds. This is where our role as a trusted partner takes on its full meaning: supporting the structuring of bespoke transmission strategies and an efficient wealth organization. The challenge is clear: to secure today’s decisions while preparing tomorrow’s with clarity and serenity”, concludes Elisa Thollet.